Saturday, November 10, 2012

Our landmark publication, "The Real 'Cool' Book" now available

I discovered jazz in the 1950s by putting my ear to my brother Norm's room as he and my uncle Ben practiced Chet Baker/Gerry Mulligan duets. So when I joined the Neal Buckley Octet a couple years ago, it lit up a part of my musical subconscious that had long been dormant. What I found was that the West Coast, "cool jazz" charts we played sounded even better than I remembered them. So when someone said I should put out "The Real 'Cool' Book" this project just popped into being---first as a conception and now as a reality. My heartfelt thanks goes out to my musical editor/transcriber Larry Dunlap and our music engraver Chuck Gee for dedication to excellence beyond the call of duty. A world-class job!

What we have done is to take 14 of the best octet songs from that era and transcribe them from the recordings so that this happy, swinging version of jazz could be played by any college-level, or even good high school ensemble. There are separate books for each player, all in one big binder. And on our website there will soon be transposed versions of each of the horn parts so that groups with different instrumentation can still play these songs.

Jazz used to be "the music of the people." Without cowtowing to blatant commercialism, I feel that this book can bring back some of that connection with audiences that jazz has lost over the years. Why? Because the music is upbeat and unapologetically tonal, with great melodies, wonderful counterpoint writing and arranging, and a swinging forward motion that won't quit. And the sheer beauty of five horns blending with other is unbeatable, in my experience.

My hope is that schools, jazz camps and just groups of jazz players will find "The Real 'Cool' Book" to be as advertised, "The most fun you can have for $11 apiece!" - Chuck Sher


Randy Vincent's LINE GAMES just released

I have been very fortunate to play music with guitarist Randy Vincent in several different settings over the last half dozen years or so. My observations are that he is talented, no question; great ears, no question; completely conversant with the jazz tradition to the point of being able to tell you which chord substitutions were played by which artist for innumerable tunes, etc. etc. But Randy's unique gift is an insatiable curiosity with how music works, what the underpinnings are of the music played by the jazz masters. This is what makes him a great teacher and, at this point in time, the greatest living author of jazz guitar books.

His third book, LINE GAMES, is further proof of that claim. I won't go into a description of what he covers here - that is spelled out clearly on our website. But I do believe that, among others things, Randy (like Sher Music Co. itself) was put on this earth to accomplish the goal of creating the best jazz books possible. It is a real honor to work with him.

One further source of pride for me with this book is that the mosaic guitar on the cover was created by my wonderful wife and soulmate, Sueann Bettison Sher. If they gave Grammys for the best music book cover of the year, Sueann and our graphic artist, Attila Nagy, should win first prize. I hope you all enjoy this labor of love - Chuck Sher